HISTORY OF MADAGASCAR. 
39 
for they will never attack a man near the shore. It nettled 
me to be stopped by a river that was scarcely a hundred 
yards over. At length I recollected that in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Bengal, where there are the largest alligators in 
the world, fires are often made at the head and stern of 
the boat, so that they pass the rivers in safety. Distress 
puts a man’s invention upon the rack: something, thought 
I, like this must be done ; for it was to no purpose to stay 
there, neither could I go back. So making choice of a 
stick for a firebrand, I cut it into long splinters, and waited 
till it grew dark; then, after I had bound my two fire-sticks 
to the top of one of my lances, I went into the water, and, 
recommending myself to the care of Providence, turned 
upon my back, and swam over, with my two lances and 
hatchet in one hand, and my fire-brand burning in the 
other, my lamba being twisted and tied fast about my 
loins.” 
At last the welcome sight of St. Augustine’s Bay, with 
its road, where ships were wont to touch, presented itself to 
the weary and solitary traveller, as he stood on the summit 
of a hill , of considerable elevation. It does not appear, 
however, that any means of escape from the country were 
available at that time; for he was obliged to place himself 
under the protection of a chieftain w r ho had formerly shown 
him kindness, and who required his service in the wars in 
which he was then engaged. 
It is worthy of remark, that although the pirates are 
generally considered to be the originators of the slave-trade 
in Madagascar, and, on the authority of Rochon, a circum¬ 
stantial statement of the first commencement of this nefa¬ 
rious traffic is given in the following pages, more than one 
account occurs in Drury’s narrative, of cases in which the 
barter of men for foreign goods is spoken of as the cus- 
